Portland Council Should Prioritize City’s Information Communications Technology Development
Posted on November 30, 2016 by Janice Thompson
Tags, Telecommunications
Earlier this morning (November 30), Sam Pastrick summarized CUB’s report, Structural Changes Needed to Regain Information Communications Technology Edge in Portland, in an appearance before the Portland City Council.
CUB also sent the report to Mayor-Elect Ted Wheeler and Commissioner-Elect Chloe Eudaly since it urges City Council-level action to advance Information Communications Technology (ICT) the policy development, implementation, and oversight in Portland. Key findings of the report include:
• The City of Portland continued its early leadership regarding open data and broadband strategic planning, with recent advances in digital inclusion and equity. Yet only two of fourteen strategies identified in Connecting to Our Future: Portland’s Broadband Strategic Plan have been addressed since its adoption in 2011.
• The City’s Office for Community Technology (OCT) – the group charged with implementing the Broadband Strategic Plan – was hamstrung after losing its Bureau-level status with direct report to a City Council member in 2012. A 2015 decision to bury OCT even deeper within Portland’s governance structure further hampered OCT’s effectiveness.
• The City of Portland has lost its ICT edge compared to other U.S. cities with higher-profile ICT offices. CUB’s research identifies an important link between city governance structures and effective and innovative ICT policy development, implementation, and oversight. The report discusses critical elements of city-level ICT leadership, including a case study of Seattle’s organizational approach based on leadership by that city’s Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and Chief Technology Officer.
The Portland City Council did provide forward thinking by launching a nationally innovative Broadband Strategic Plan. The 2011 Plan notes that “high speed, accessible and affordable broadband is now mission-critical infrastructure for job creation, education, health care, the enhancement of safe and connected communities, civic engagement, government transparency and responsiveness, reduced carbon emissions, and emergency preparedness.”
The problem now is that the City of Portland lacks high-level attention to ICT within the current governance structure. The status quo is not acceptable to ensure visionary development, implementation, and oversight of ICT policies within and beyond the City of Portland.
CUB does not offer one specific recommendation to bolster the efficacy and profile of the current Office for Community Technology. Rather, to jump-start an important discussion on Portland’s ICT policy oversight, CUB offers several alternative structural options.
Again, you can see CUB’s full report here.
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03/15/17 | 0 Comments | Portland Council Should Prioritize City’s Information Communications Technology Development